Columnist Bill Hall of the Lewiston Tribune discusses one of the great inequities between the haves and have nots in the 21st Century -- the preferential treatment given to first-class air passengers:
I fought the good fight again the other day against any airlines that comfort the wealthy while misusing unpretentious folk. We were boarding a plane while walking the gauntlet of being stared at by wealthy people who sit up front where Daddy Pilot gives them liquid courage and flies them to our mutual destination. We arrive only a plane length behind the more moneyed fliers. In one sense, that's an equitable transaction. They and their rich aunts have buckled down and earned a lot of moola in their gilded lives. They spend their fannies off (as they prove by sitting in the big seats). That gives us the ability to amass all those cheap tickets into sufficient money to get the plane off the ground. Most of the big spenders, even with their more pricey tickets, would find it a stretch to pay for the flight without the help of all the flying peasants who subsidize them. To be fair, the wealthy passengers in the front seats are kind enough to spend big wads of green backs to help generate the restoration of our economy. More here.
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.
unpretentious folk. We were boarding a plane while walking the gauntlet of being stared at by wealthy people who sit up front where Daddy Pilot gives them liquid courage and flies them to our mutual destination. We arrive only a plane length behind the more moneyed fliers. In one sense, that's an equitable transaction. They and their rich aunts have buckled down and earned a lot of moola in their gilded lives. They spend their fannies off (as they prove by sitting in the big seats). That gives us the ability to amass all those cheap tickets into sufficient money to get the plane off the ground. Most of the big spenders, even with their more pricey tickets, would find it a stretch to pay for the flight without the help of all the flying peasants who subsidize them. To be fair, the wealthy passengers in the front seats are kind enough to spend big wads of green backs to help generate the restoration of our economy. More here.
